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1881: The Children of Parihaka (2012)

November 2, 2018

By AHNZ

The Parihaka incident occurred on 5 November 1881. Considering it was a State police action it was humanely and patiently carried out and something for which New Zealanders can be proud. It is not remembered that way at all…

“Today in 1881 saw an attack on a pacifist settlement at Parihaka, revisited in documentary Tatarakihi – The Children of Parihaka “- NZ On Screen

No attack was made, there was no need. Simply an arrest, primarily of bullshit artists claiming to resurrect the dead. For years the cultists illegally occupied land and stalked policemen while carrying sticks and clubs. When Te Whiti openly defied the law and the Queen he was too vain to back down and finally ran out of second, third, forth, […] chances.

Two Executive Government ministers rode in, with back up, and defused a tense situation. And everyone thought they’d done very well until, I suppose, 100 years later when this revisionist version of the Good Maori Gandhi comes spinning out of universities.

I like that political leaders in this case did not hide behind their desks but saddled up for front-line personal responsibility. When this White Guilt wave finally runs its course those days will come again.

The film, The Children of Parihaka, is actually quite hard to get hold of. I suspect viewings are restricted to people belonging to the in-group because there are showings from time to time but there’s no general release. The real reason for that, in my opinion, is that the film itself is riddled with inaccuracies which would not hold up to criticism.

 

2 thoughts on "1881: The Children of Parihaka (2012)"

  1. deborah parkhouse says:

    currently Aotearoa New Zealand lauding the “bloody” version and wanting flags at half mast commemorating the “massacre”.
    we need Larry Bisset. such a great and FAIR historian and defender of the MISinformation touted today and taught on social media as TRUE social injustice to maori. I cannot grace him anymore. Disappeared. he was the voice of reason and knowledgeable. He used to have as his monniker a photo of Sir Apirana Ngati because he admired him.

    1. AHNZ says:

      Well, he was knowledgeable at any rate. Not always reasonable. When you’re living the life of a Kipling poem (‘If’) and don’t calibrate quite right I think it can hurt you. You can become bitter and resentful. And that’s probably the object of the Woke Aotearoa agenda. Not a fair fight of reason and evidence but a flood of propaganda and cancelling and dehumanising.

      I don’t know if that’s what happened to Larry or if age simply caught up with him. We do need to look after each other so we don’t get isolated and picked off by the Current Conformity. So, thanks for leaving a comment.

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Anarchist History of New Zealand: The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority- Stanley Milgram